Arsenal, Ozil to hold talks
ARSENAL are poised for crunch talks with Mesut Ozil which will determine if he is going to sign a new contract to remain at The Emirates. The German international still has two years left to run on his £140,000 a week deal and is demanding a substantial increase to commit himself to a new deal. The Gunners have been making progress with talks but they are now entering a critical stage with Manchester United reported to be waiting in the wings. Ozil has been in brilliant form for Arsenal this season and talks which are advanced are poised to resume after this international break. Arsene Wenger has been chipping away with Hector Bellerin the latest of his squad to put pen to paper on a new contract. Wenger wants Ozil and Alexis Sanchez to both stay at the club with his side finally looking like they could land their first Premier League crown since 2004. The problem that they have got is that they are have far less money to spend than many of their Premier League rivals and need to do things within a budget. It means that they struggle to meet the demands of players like Ozil and Sanchez who are believed to be looking for between £200,000 and £250,000 a week. BORUSSIA DORTMUND are reportedly ready to offer Henrikh Mkhitaryan a swift return to the club in January. Manchester United paid Dortmund £26.7m to sign Mkhitaryan in the summer. He arrived in England highly-regarded after emerging as one of the Bundesli-
ga’s best players in recent seasons. But the Armenian playmaker is yet to make any kind of an impact under Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford. He has not started a single match since suffering a thigh injury in September’s Manchester derby defeat. And, according to the Sunday People, Dortmund could offer Mkhitaryan some respite from his Premier League nightmare when the transfer window reopens in the new year. The Dortmund hierarchy are said to have been shocked by his failure to hit the ground running with United. BASTIAN SCHWEINSTEIGER’S (pix) is inching closer to waking up from his Manchester United nightmare after he was spotted meeting with MLS chiefs. The German World Cup winner joined the Red Devils from Bayern Munich in 2015 as part of former manager Louis van Gaal’s midfield reconstruction, which also included the arrival of Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin. However, after an injurystricken first season in England, where he only featured 15 times in the Premier League, Schweinsteiger found himself exiled to train with the under23s under new boss Jose Mourinho. Mourinho made it clear the 32-year-old had no future with the club, despite bringing the German back into the first-team training squad recently – if only to ensure he is fit enough to be signed by another club in January. And that club looks certain to be from the MLS, with Schweinsteiger photographed meeting Chicago Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic in a Manchester restaurant. The pair held a four-hour lunch on Wednesday, according to
the Daily Express. However, the MLS club refused to confirm the report but a spokesman did confirm that Paunovic is travelling through Europe on a scouting trip at present. OLIVIER GIROUD could be offered a route out of Arsenal in January with Serie A duo AC Milan and Napoli both interested in the France striker. Napoli are still looking for a replacement for Gonzalo Higuain, whom they lost to Juventus in the summer, while Milan are looking for another striker to boost their chances of returning to the Champions League next season, according the Daily Mirror. Giroud has started only once this season after injury and an extended break after Euro 2016, but has seen Alexis Sanchez continue as Arsene Wenger’s main striker despite his return to fitness. The 30-year-old has only 18 months left on his Arsenal deal and has previously vowed to stay and fight for his place back at the Emirates. However, he has also given any potential suitors hope by admitting he is unhappy with the current situation he finds himself in with the Gunners. “I see my future at Arsenal until the date my contract ends,” he said this week. “But I won’t lie, there have been times I’ve been disappointed and not happy with my situation. But the coach knows that. He’s the one who makes the choices. I’ll fight for my place.” GARY NEVILLE insists Manchester United must not fall into the trap of repeatedly sacking managers after the short-term failure of not making the top four. David Moyes and Louis van Gaal were both given their marching orders after failing to secure Champions League football, finishing seventh and fifth respectively. Van Gaal’s successor Jose Mourinho has come in for heavy criticism during his early months of his Old Trafford tenure after managing only two Premier League wins since August and slumping to sixth place in the table. “It’s going to take some time for United to get through this thing of sacking managers if they don’t come in fourth,” Neville told the Manchester Evening News. “They have to really live with Mourinho now and hopefully it will work and he can get it right because we need some stability there. I thought United would settle down quicker than they have with the new signings, they haven’t – it looks like it’s still going to be a bit painful. Mourinho has always been about picking his best XI and he will deliver the win. He has had to change it constantly and he doesn’t know his best team yet.”
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